Our Kids

Our Volunteers

 Our hands on-team is made up of the full and part time voluntary staff who keep the sanctuary running and look after the administrative side of things. Most of our staff are young volunteers, many of whom are members of the 'Care Committee'. They do all yard duties, making sure that each animal is cared for according to their own individual needs. 

The Care Committee

The heart beating at the centre of Shy Lowen is the Care Committee. The Committee is made up of the volunteer kids, aged between 11 and 18 years old. The more experienced kids teach the younger ones. They learn our basic principles of non-violence and understanding, of mutual support and team work. 

They meet once a month, when they discuss and decide on what they need to be doing in the coming month or more. This might be a training plan for a particular horse, how to introduce a new member into the management routine, a particular issue that has arisen or who is going to do what for one of the forthcoming fundraising activities.

The Care Committee is also involved in the administration of the sanctuary, including funding, website maintenance and general promotion of the charity.

This gives a huge sense of responsability and ownership, and is part of why each member of the Committee is intensely proud of Shy Lowen and all it stands for.

The kids learn an incredibly broad range of life skills: team work and communications, responsibility, financial awareness, administrative skills... the list goes on.

  • Are you aged 11 to 25?
  • Would you like to learn about horses?
  • How about learning our rehabilitation methods with 'problem' horses?
  • Are you interested in helping with the sanctuary management?
  • What about working with the finances?
  • Do you like wildlife and the natural environment?
Then get in touch with us NOW!

Training

At the core of our centre is the need to understand the horse from their point of view, and the need to communicate with them in a way that they will understand. This isn't always easy for adults who have been brought up with horses; our kids pick it up surprisingly quickly.

They also learn how to handle horses, how to groom them and care for them, how to ride them and train them. It may sound strange to some that kids with comparatively little horse experience can be training troubled horses but our sound training philosophy and support structure enable them to achieve astonishing results.

Open Days

You can see our volunteers in action at our open days, when they perform in ridden displays.

Other Volunteers

We also have a core of older volunteers who have come up through the ranks, starting as volunteers and care committee members before moving on to more responsible roles. 

Ellie Jones has gone on to become one of our trustees, while other older volunteers such as Elisha Ormrod and Beth McGhee also provide invaluable support to younger team members and to the sanctuary as a whole.

We have, of course, also attracted many volunteers who have come to Shy Lowen as adults. 

Their names are too numerous to mention but we thank them all. 

Whether they spend a couple of hours helping around the yard from time to time, come weekly for specific tasks, or just keep the cogs moving in the background by providing administrative (and moral!) support, we couldn't do it without them!
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